Freddie Highmore, ‘Bates Motel’ executive producer line up next project

With the upcoming season of “Bates Motel” serving as the show’s last, it does make a little bit of sense that we’d get a chance to hear about what Freddie Highmore and the show’s executive producers want to do next. Luckily, we’re rather thrilled to be finding out now.

Per a new report from Variety, Highmore and show executive producer Kerry Ehrin are now teaming up for a new potential project on A&E entitled “Baby Face,” which is based on an idea that Highmore has and the two will co-write a possible pilot. The story is centered around the story of the infamous “Baby Face” Nelson, and where he will begin as one half of a young couple. You will see his rise from petty criminal to eventual mastermind, and potentially his death provided the show is a success.

Highmore is also set to star in the project, which does have at least some parallels to his current gig. Both shows revolve around the rise of someone known for terrible things, which were committed at a very young age. However, the psychology and reasoning behind them may be rather different. Nelson is far more of a social beast than Norman Bates has been presented to be, so this show will enable us an opportunity to see the terribly-underrated actor show off a very different dimension while also tapping into a little bit of the darkness that he perfected on this show over the course of the past several years.

For A&E, this it also gives them potentially another scripted hit that they can really build and cultivate. That is something that they’ve needed more of alongside “Bates Motel” for some time, and while this show won’t be concurrent, at least it will help them to continue having some of the top quality programming on the air right now.

The final season of “Bates Motel” will premiere in the late winter / early spring of 2017.

Does the idea behind “Baby Face” intrigue you, and are you happy to see more of Highmore on the air? Feel free to let us know in the attached comments!